ANC at the helm: Will it ever be the government we deserve?
In 1994 I watched the inauguration of Nelson Mandela as the country’s first democratically elected president with the hope that the ANC would be different from other liberation movements on the continent once in governance.
Twenty-six years later and it appears the party is hell-bent on fulfilling the stereotype of unethical and corrupt African leadership. How is it that two politicians linked to the VBS scandal, which impacted on poor people, were invited back. It should not even have been a debate at the party’s NEC last month.
Other ANC politicians facing corruption allegations will no doubt also be invited back because the door appears to always be open. Except if your name is Julius Malema and Bantu Holomisa – two people who were actually kicked out of the ANC. Malema was expelled after he lost his hate speech conviction. Holomisa was expelled in 1996. Not for corruption but for misconduct and for bringing the party into disrepute.
What the ANC doesnt realise is that it is signalling to voters is that members can be removed for factional reasons but not for stealing from the poor.
In this week’s edition of News24’s Friday Briefing, Ebrahim Fakir takes a look at what the ANC will need to do if it is going to remain in power. Mpumelelo Mkhabela breaks down the ANC’s Strategy and Tactics documents and asks how the party got to a point where it didn’t take its own advice and Ralph Mathekga writes that South Africa may not be the textbook definition of a failed state but the country is certainly exhibiting elements of it.
Have a good weekend, and stay safe.
Vanessa Banton
Opinion Editor